Our History

St. Peter’s Soup Kitchen has been serving the West Side Community of the City of Rochester since 1982, when our program was founded by Father Richard Czierwin, SS.CC.

We started out as a once a week as a Saturday soup and sandwich program. Today we serve a well-balanced lunch to an average 140 people a day, Monday through Friday. Our guests come from all walks of life; many have troubles with addiction, mental illness, physical illness, lost homes and low wage earnings. We are a non-referral agency meaning anyone who walks through our doors is welcome to share in a meal.

Most food programs in our area require income documentation in order to be served. We feel there should be a few programs in the city that are open to all.

Over the past 35 years, we have been building a strong and connected community and have gained the trust of the people who we serve. We have become a pillar in the community and we recognize our unique ability to act as a base to start expanding our programs to address the root causes of the devastating poverty that the majority of our guests experience. We started on that path last year when we began St. Peter’s Garden of Love in partnership with Foodlink as well as being a host to Foodlink’s many course offerings aimed at building food security and knowledge.